Here’s my “artist’s statement” about the poems:
The sequence is composed of thirteen poems in the voices of women historically connected to Greece; it is my hope and intention that the poems stand on their own, but I have included notes at the end to fill in some of the details related to these women. Having traveled a great deal in Greece, I found myself wanting to write a series of poems set there. My husband, a Greek-American, suggested that I might want to write something having to do with Greek women. After thinking about it for some time, I began exploring resources on women from different places and periods in Greek history. By writing persona poems in these women’s voices, imagining the details of their lives, I felt that I was able to write about women’s issues in specific, grounded ways, and that many of the concerns of these women--economic and social freedom, marriage, religion, power--related to my own life as a southern woman.
The concept of the evil eye occurs in a number of countries. In Greece, it grows out of the idea that the rare, the beautiful, the lucky attract envy, and that this envy creates a negative energy that can cause bad luck. In many cases, the person with the “evil eye” may not even be aware of it but simply bring it on through envy of others’ happiness or good fortune. In relation to this collection of poems, each of the women portrayed has either experienced some bad fortune or is in a position to do so.
Of course, if you believe in the evil eye, I should be cautious about beginning a post with "Good news this morning"!
